Monday, 27 May 2019

Preparing Your Car for Adventure Days

Car care is especially important when you are out on the road with family. A compromised car, can pose huge risks later. In order to stress upon the importance of car care - I want to explain it with the example of my favorite place. East Anglia is one of my favourite parts of the UK and it happens to be my home. From the incredible nature reserves along the North Norfolk Coast to the classic English seaside towns such as Southend in Essex - there is something for everyone and plenty of adventures to be had and that's why we spend most of our weekends exploring our local area and normally it is by car. Before heading out, we want to make it absolutely sure that our car is in the right condition to be driven.

It was only today I was saying to my husband just how lucky we are to live in such a beautiful place. We were walking around Thorpe Forrest with the kids, after a long day at work and nursery, it felt like our own little slice of heaven, a midweek holiday even. I think that's the beauty of the UK we're incredibly lucky that most places are in easy reach.

Car safety with car brakes

Travelling around the UK is fairly easy with our ever improving road networks. Of course, we have the bigger motorways which make most of the UK within easy reach but there are stunning coastal roads and tourists routes if you don't mind the slower pace and quite often, at the weekends, that's where you will find us.

Car Safety

Of course, ensuring your car is ready for your adventures is important. And it's something I can't stress enough and I'm talking from personal experience here. No-one want's a breakdown or an avoidable accident to ruin your adventures.

One of the main reasons why breakdowns occur is down to poor maintenance on your vehicle and as we all know, this can be completely avoided. Firstly, you can look after your brakes by regularly having them checked at your local garage where they'll basically do a full MOT just on your braking system. For example, if you live around Westfield, Canvey or other areas locally in UK then you should get your braking system, tyres and more checked to drive safely on roads. If you want brakes at great price in Canvey- check out Jet Wheel Tyre.
There are always some telltale signs that your brakes need looking at, for example, the most obvious indication is typically, a brake pad wear warning light will show on the car's display board, indicating that at least one set of pads is almost worn out and a replacement needed to be fitted. However, not all cars are equipped with brake pad sensors. If you can hear a loud screeching sound when braking it's a real warning sign that new brake pads are needed, or at least require inspection. If you hear a grinding noise, it's likely the brake pads have been worn down completely. If this happens you should not drive the vehicle and arrange for the brakes to be checked and replaced as soon as possible.

Checking, the oil and fluid levels should also be a priority along with checking your tyres (you can read my post about this here).

Pack for adventure

If you spend a lot of time camping, hiking, biking, backpacking, or other outdoor activity, a small emergency and first aid kit should always be in your vehicle. You don’t have to be in a major emergency to find most of these items useful, and if you’re ever stranded you’ll be glad you have them:

Whether you buy a kit or put it together yourself, you’ll be glad to have some essentials to get you through a breakdown or bad weather.

Using a roof rack can also add to your adventures, a top box is great if you need more space for packing those extra items, or you could use it to take bikes or even a kayak too.

I would love to hear about your favourite spots in East Anglia as I'm sure we still have places to explore. If you're interested in opting for a staycation this year, why not check out my previous post for more ideas.